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ALPHABETS; 

OR, 

SYSTEMS OF PBINTING, WRITING, 

AND 

NOTATION OF MUSIC, 

BEST ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE BLIND. 






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Shortly after the Eighth Eeport of the Directors of the 
Maryland Institution for the Instruction of the Blind had 
been issued from the press, I received from Dr. Armitage, of 
London, an interesting article cut from the London Times, on 
the subject of the improvement of systems of printing for the 
Blind, accompanied by the request that I would endeavour to 
have it reprinted in some newspapers having extensive circu- 
lation in this country, and I subsequently received from the 
same gentleman a copy of the Journal of the Society of Arts, 
containing a Eeport of a discussion of the same subject at one 
of the regular meetings of that Society. As a portion of 
these papers is devoted to the examination of the systems of 
Lucas, Frere and Moon, each of which has a certain number 
of advocates in England, but no one of which has ever 
obtained any footing in this country, I have thought it best to 
make such selections only from the two as will be likely to be 
interesting to the friends of the Blind here, and to publish them 
in pamphlet form, inviting at the same time from editors of news- 
papers such more wide-spread publicity as they may think 
proper to give them in their columns. But whilst cheerfully 
aiding those gentlemen in England, who are devoting their 
time and means to the accomplishment of a great purpose, I 
feel that in this connection it would be an omission amounting 
to injustice, not to refer with emphasis to the very intelligent 
and thorough investigation of the same subject which has for 
some years past been prosecuted in the JSTew York Institution 
for the Blind, and to the recommendation by Mr. Wait, Super- 
intendent of that Institution in his clear and able Eeport for 
1868, detailing the results of his studies and experiments 
up to that time — of the adoption of a modification of the 
Braille system, that he believes will possess all the advantages 
of that system, and be superior to it in the important partic- 
ular of compactness, on which depends that of the cheapness 
of books. The report of the progress made in this matter in 
that Institution during the year 1869 has not yet been received. 
It is also proper to notice that the Braille system of writing, 
printing, and notation of music, has been in use in the Missouri 
Institution for the Blind for a number of years, and with the 
most favourable results, as the following extracts from a letter 
recently received from Mr. Foster, Superintendent of that 
Institution will show: "It (the Braille) is now the only type 
" which our pupils are willing to use while in the Institution, 
" and when they leave here, it is the only type or style of 
" printing which they will use. Any child of ordinary ability 



" can learn to read it in one month, and having learned to 
" read it, will readily learn to print. I have not had a print- 
" ing class for the last two years, but give the pupil a slate and 
"paper and he will soon be able to print. Last week a new 
"pupil entered here, Miss * * , aged 21. I just now 
" called her into my office and questioned her as to the Braille. 
" How long did it take you to learn to read the Braille ? A. 
"Two hours. How long did it take you to learn to print? 
11 A. One, or rather I was not over two hours in learning to 
"read and print, for I took them together. How do you like 
"the system? Ever so much, it is the best I have ever seen. 
" She had been three years in the -■'.-* * * Institu- 
tion, and could read Boston type. Another, * * , 
" aged 27, blind five years, entered our Mechanical Depart- 
"ment, learned the alphabet in about three days when out of 
"the shop. Nearly all of the adults admitted to the Mechan- 
"ical Department learn to read. From this you will conclude 
" that we favour the Braille, or, as I would put it, the point 
" system instead of the line." 

That these investigations should be going on at the same 
time in England and in America, is proof that there exists a 
conviction in the minds of those engaged in the education of 
the Blind, that no one of the systems in general use in these coun- 
tries gives satisfaction, whilst the uniformly favorable results 
obtained from experiments with the Braille, and the know- 
ledge that that system holds undisputed precedence in France 
and in several other European countries, argue strongly in 
favour of its universal adoption. It may be, however, that 
the gentlemen connected with the New York Institution can, 
after further trial, sustain their claim to have made a valuable 
improvement upon the Braille, or that those in England who 
are working for the same object may be able to confidently 
recommend some still better system ; if not, at least it cannot 
well be doubted that a system far better adapted to the uses 
of the Blind than is that of the Roman letters, is already at 
hand ; and the claims of that class, whose appeals to public 
sympathy are seldom made in vain, earnestly invite the dis- 
pensers of funds, contributed for its benefit, to lay aside indi- 
vidual prepossessions and prejudices, and after consultation 
unite to recommend the general adoption of that system 
which shall appear to offer the greatest facilities to the major- 
ity of the Blind for communicating in writing with each other 
and with the seeing, and for obtaining easy access to the 
resources of literature and music. 

J. HOWARD McHENKY. 

Baltimore, March 15th, 1870. 



[From the London Times of January 2d, 1870.] 

LITEKATUKE FOE THE BLIND. 

Of the many privations endured by the blind, and especially 
by those among them who have once enjoyed the power of 
vision, none are more acutely felt than their frequent inability 
to read and write. It is very difficult to realize, without the 
aid of painful experience, all that this inability implies. It is, 
we fear, inevitable that the blind should be cut off from any 
unassisted knowledge of current or ephemeral literature ; but 
a movement has recently been set on foot which promises to 
be successful, and which has for its object to restore to them 
the works of great writers, and to give them improved and 
easy means of holding written communication with others. 

The idea of enabling the blind to read by touch is an old 
one, which would naturally suggest itself to all who were con- 
versant with their condition. The first attempts at its practi- 
cal application were made in the 16th century, but were not 
attended by any great success. The method of stamping 
characters on paper in relief was introduced by Haiiy, who 
printed his first book in Paris in 1784, using the Italic form of 
'the Eoman letter. In 1832 Sir Charles Lowther obtained 
some types of this kind from Prance ; and among other things, 
printed with his own hands several parts of the Bible, begin- 
ning with the Gospel of St. Matthew. It was found, however, 
that the characters, although clear and beautiful to look at, 
were not sufficiently distinct to the touch to be easily legible 
by its aid alone. Hence, in 1834, Gall introduced a new char- 
acter, founded upon the ordinary Eoman capitals, but with 
angles in lieu of curves. Alston, the Eev. W. Taylor, and 
others, especially in America, have invented and employed 
other modifications of the Eoman letter ; but all of them are 
open to the same objection. They do not fulfil to the finger 
the promise they make to the eye. They are mastered with 
great difficulty by those who become blind in middle life, and 
who, now that smallpox is kept in check by vaccination, form 
the great majority of blind persons. They look very distinct 
indeed ; but the only proper test for them is the finger, unas- 
sisted by the sense of sight. A few of the blind, chiefly among 
those who have been so afflicted from early childhood, have 
cultivated delicacy of touch in an extraordinary manner, and 
the popular legends concerning them have produced a very 
general belief that the sense of touch, necessarily and sponta- 
neously, by a sort of natural compensation, grows in acuteness 
with the loss of sight, and that most blind people have very 
good substitutes for eyes at the tips of their fingers. Such a 
belief is wholly erroneous. Acuteness of touch increases only 



by assiduous practice ; and, moreover, can only be cultivated 
in a high degree by those who, being exempt from necessity 
for manual labour, can keep the organ of touch — that is, the 
skin of the finger-tips — in a condition of softness and delicacy. 
Many of the blind follow occupations which harden their 
hands, and could never acquire a very high degree of tactile 
sensibility; while perhaps the highest degree on record has 
been attained by persons with perfect sight, by card-sharpers, 
who, keeping the cuticle of the thumb softened by chymical 
agents, have been able to feel and decipher private marks, so 
slight as to escape ordinary observation, dotted by a needle 
on the backs of the cards they were dealing. But, when due 
allowance is made for increased delicacy of touch, it may still 
be taken as a fact that the Roman character, in all its modifi- 
cations, is read by the blind with difficulty; and in proof of 
this the experience of American schools may be appealed to. 
Supported by public funds, these schools are called upon to 
furnish annual reports to the State Legislatures. Among the 
pupils at the American schools in which a Roman letter is 
used, and after five years' instruction, one-third read fluently, 
one-third imperfectly, spelling the words letter by letter, and 
one-third fail entirely. At the Missouri Institution, where 
Braille's dotted character is employed, two-thirds of the pupils 
learn to read fluently, and one-third imperfectly. No failures 
are recorded. 

In England there are no similar statistics to be obtained, 
but the practical difficulties arising from the Roman letter 
have made themselves felt, and hence two systems of arbitrary 
signs have been introduced. That of Mr. Lucas is based upon 
ordinary shorthand, the signs representing the letters of the 
alphabet, and contractions being used when possible. That of 
Mr. Frere is based on phonetic shorthand, the signs represent- 
ing vocal sounds. Both of these systems render the books 
printed in them cheaper and less bulky than those in which 
common type is used, but they present great and often insur- 
mountable difficulties to the uneducated adult blind. Mr. 
Moon, who is himself blind, has devised a system in which 
many of the Roman letters are retained in simplified or rudi- 
mentary forms, while those which are more complicated are 
replaced by Mr. Frere's simple linear signs. Unfortunately, 
however, while adopting some of Mr. Frere's signs, Mr. Moon 
has changed their meaning, and has thus introduced an unne- 
cessary source of confusion. His method has the great recom- 
mendation of being very easy to acquire, but the books are 
bulky, which makes reading a slow process, and renders the 
cost of production very great. 

The foregoing brief sketch mentions only a few of the systems 



that Lave from time to time been introduced, and in which books 
have been printed. The blind form, of course, a limited com- 
munity ; and it is easy to perceive how seriously the growth 
of any literature for them must have been retarded by the 
division of effort which the conflicting systems have occa- 
sioned. 

It is satisfactory that, amid this confusion, the persons who 
are most interested have at last taken the matter into their 
own hands. A society has been formed under the name of 
the "British and Foreign Blind Association," with the Bishop 
of London for its President, and already includes among its 
vice-presidents and members men of the highest ability and 
social standing. The Executive Council consists of six gentle- 
men, of whom five are totally and one is partially blind, and 
Dr. Armitage, of 33 Cambridge-square, whose increasing fail- 
ure of sight has compelled him to relinquish his profession, 
has been chosen honorary secretary. The members of this 
Council are all able to read by touch at least three systems, 
and are pledged to, or pecuniarily interested in, none. Besides 
comparing their own experiences, they have been for some 
time engaged in receiving and noting down the evidence of a 
large number of blind who are able to read more than one 
system, and these readers have been specially examined with 
regard to their reasons for preferring one system or for dislik- 
ing another. In this way, it is hoped, the claims and merits of 
each will be determined, by the best possible judges, and the 
Council may not improbably be able to fix upon one that 
ought to be adopted to the entire abandonment of the rest. If 
this could be done, the energies that are now wasted in print- 
ing the same book in many different ways might be employed 
in the steady increase of an embossed literature of a valuable 
kind. An interchange of books might be effected between the 
various schools in this country, and even between this country 
and America or the colonies, and a central depot might be 
organized at which all the existing embossed books might be 
procured. The plan hitherto followed by all the societies 
which have endeavoured to provide books for the blind has 
been to take up the method of printing which commended 
itself to the promoters, and then to call upon the public for 
liberal contributions; but very few of the successive inventors 
of new systems have taken the trouble thoroughly to master 
the work of their predecessors before recommending their 
own, and hence has arisen the present Babel of types. It is 
true that each succeeding alphabet has often met some diffi- 
culty, or has been an advance in some respects; but for the 
want of a grasp of the whole subject, it has often also been a 



retrogression in others. The gentlemen connected with the 
present movement appear determined to take warning by pre- 
vious mistakes, and to spare no pains in ascertaining all that 
has been done, both in this country and abroad, before recom- 
mending any method for general adoption, w T hile any that 
may be eventually decided upon will be extensively submitted 
to the blind of all classes before printing is undertaken upon a 
large scale. It is hoped that real cheapness may thus be insured 
by increased economy of production, combined with increased 
demand, in place of an artificial cheapness maintained b} 7 large 
public subscriptions. 

In the meanwhile, the system of M. Braille, of Paris, 
already referred to in the mention made of the Missouri 
School, is in general use in France, both for reading and writ- 
ing, and is rapidly becoming the universally written character 
of all civilized countries except England. The symbols can 
be readily and perfectly produced by the blind by hand, and 
blind pupils, in the ordinary course of instruction, learn to 
decipher them by learning to form them. The blind can thus 
keep diaries and memoranda, make their own embossed books, 
and even carry on any correspondence of a private nature • 
because any one who had business to transact with a blind 
person would readily learn to decipher and to form the letters 
far more readily indeed, than people in general learn to use 
the finger alphabet with the deaf and dumb. * 
The same system is applied to music, and the arrangement is 
so simple that it can be very readily mastered by any person 
of ordinary intelligence. How far it may be accepted gener- 
ally by the blind, as approving itself to their sense of touch, 
it would at present be premature to pronounce, but the reports 
of the Missouri School are sufficient to show that it is at least 
superior to all modifications of the Roman character. And 
unless some other system be found to surpass it greatly, of 
which there has hitherto been no suggestion,* the facilities it 
affords for writing by the blind should entitle it to rank 
above all methods that do not offer the same advantage. For 
these facilities do not apply only to writing upon paper, but 
extend to the production of stereotype plates, which may be 
made by any blind person during hours of leisure, and from 
w r hich embossed books may be printed for the use of others. 

For writing by this method, the scribe is provided with a 
plate of zinc, of any required size, having a surface grooved 
horizontally with 12 grooves to an inch, and surrounded by a 
frame like that of a common slate. A sheet of paper is placed 
on the zinc plate and secured, and is then crossed by a slip of 



The writer of this article was evidently not aware of the suggestions made by the 
Superintendent of the N. Y. Institution. 



thin metal, cut into two horizontal rows of oblong openings. 
Each opening is of the proper size to contain the six dots of 
the root form of the character. It is a quarter of an inch in 
vertical measurement, so as to correspond with three grooves 
of the plate below, and one-sixth of an inch wide. The 
spaces between adjacent holes are those proper to be left 
between letters. The writer is furnished with a blunt awl or 
stilet, and commences on the right hand side of the page. 
Feeling for the first hole, he forms within it the first letter by 
indenting on the paper the necessary dots. The grooves and 
the sides and angles of the hole are sufficient to guide his awl 
exactly, so that the dots are placed with perfect accuracy ; 
and the grooves, although deep enough to allow the paper to 
be carried before the awl, are yet too shallow to allow it to 
be entirely broken through. When the first line is filled, the 
writer goes on to the next ; and when this is filled also, he 
moves the perforated slip of metal a step lower down, being 
guided by holes in the wooden frame, within which projections 
under the ends of the slip are received. When the sheet is 
completed, it is turned over towards the left, and the stamped 
figures appear in relief, following one another in the usual 
way from left to right. 

To make stereotype plates, a sheet of thin copper, supported 
by lead, is used in lieu of paper, and the awl is struck by a 
hammer. The indented side of the sheet is then backed up 
with solder, and a firm plate is produced, from which a con- 
siderable number of copies on paper may be taken by pressure. 

It is difficult to exaggerate the impulse that would be given 
to embossed printing by the general acceptance of such a sys- 
tem as this. The preparation of copper plates would become 
a common resource for the blind, an amusement for those 
among them possessed of leisure, and a new source of profita- 
ble industry for those dependent upon labour for subsistence. 
Year by year stereotype plates would be multiplied, and a sin- 
gle copy of any book once stereotyped could always be 
obtained at the cost of paper and pressing. 

At present, as we have said, and certainly pending the deci- 
sion of the Council, it would be premature to pronounce that 
the Braille character ought to be universally adopted ; but it is 
not premature to asesrt that our blind ought to be furnished 
with a written character that shall be either identical with or 
an improvement upon that which is used in other countries. 
If such a character, after due trial, were found to be sufficiently 
good for printed matter, it would be a great advantage to be 
able to use it for both purposes. If this cannot be accom- 
plished, and if two forms are found necessary, each should be 
made perfect for its own purpose, and each should be generally 



8 

adopted, so as to terminate the confusion that now artificially 
increases the burden of one of the greatest of human calami- 
ties. All who are interested in the welfare of the blind should 
cordially unite in the present movement. Those who are 
themselves blind possess a special qualification for promoting 
it j and, in the pleasure to be derived from active work in a 
good cause, might add materially to their own happiness 
Those who enjoy the blessing of sight may, if they choose, 
considerably aid by their countenance and support an under- 
taking which, although not charitable in the common sense of 
the word, is eminently so in its highest and truest meaning. 
A decision about the best forms of character, arrived at by 
competent judges and resting upon sufficient grounds, would 
do away in a comparatively short period with the present 
scarcity and costliness of embossed books/ as well as w T ith 
much of the difficulty of reading them; and would open freely 
to the blind of all ranks a share in one of the best heritages of 
humanity, from which, by their affliction, they are now almost 
entirely debarred. 



[From the Journal of the Society of Arts, January 28th, 1870.] 

EIGHTH OBDINARY MEETING. 

The following paper was read by Thomas Erodes Armitage, 
Esq., M. D. : 

We have now to consider the best means of educating those 
who have had the misfortune to become blind, and thus to 
mitigate in some degree the dreadful calamity of having "wis- 
dom at one entrance quite shut out/' and that the most impor- 
tant entrance. The principal channels left for conveying ideas 
to the blind are the senses of hearing and touch, and it is with 
the modes of education which address themselves to the sense 
of touch that I wish to occupy your time this evening. Head- 
ing is to the blind as important as to the seeing. I have had 
very great experience among the blind of the poorer classes, 
and have always been struck by the great improvement in 
cheerfulness, as well as in intellect, which ensues on the acqui- 
sition of the art of reading; and I can speak from experience, 
in my own person, of the great pleasure of reading for myself, 
after having been for some years almost entirely dependent 
upon others. 

It is, however, extremely important that the method adopted 
for reading should be well considered. I would lay down, as 
the objects to be aimed at in the selection of any system of 
embossed characters for general use among the blind : — 1st. 



That the characters should be as clear to the touch as possible. 
2nd. That the size should be as small as is compatible with 
perfect and instantaneous recognition. 3rd. That correct 
spelling shall not be interfered with. 4th. If any means exist 
for shortening the process of reading, they should be adopted. 
5th. That, if possible, the written should be also the printed 
character- 
It will facilitate the comprehension of the numerous systems 
of embossed printing to divide them into three great classes : 
1st. Line alphabets, which are varieties of the ordinary Roman 
letter. 2nd. Line alphabets deviating more or less from the 
Roman letter. 3rd. Dot alphabets, in which letters are rep- 
resented by various combinations of dots. 

The happy idea of printing on paper letters recognisable by 
the touch, is due to M. Haiiy, of Paris, who printed his first 
book in 1784, and founded the Institut des Jeunes Aveugles, 
Paris. The type he adopted was the script, or Italic form of 
the Roman letter. This was introduced into England by the 
present Sir C. Lowther, who printed the Gospel of St. Matthew, 
in 1832, with type obtained from Paris, and followed it with 
other portions of the Bible. In 1834, Gall, of Edinburgh, 
printed the Gospel of St. John in Roman capitals, in which, 
however, all curves were replaced by angular lines, and the 
lines themselves were serrated, which changes, he believed, 
gave greater distinctness to the letter. 

Alston, of Glasgow, adopted Fry's plan of using ordinary 
Roman capitals. Dr. Howe, of Boston, U. S., makes use of 
the small Roman letters, giving them angularity according to 
Gall's idea. The Philadelphia type does not differ much from 
Alston's. The combination o^* capitals with small letters have 
also been tried, and a society has recently been formed at 
Worcester, with the intention of printing on a large scale in 
this type. In Germany, various modifications of the Roman 
letter exist, the principal of which, the so-called Stachelschrift 
of Stutgart, consists of Roman capitals formed by finely dotted 
lines. All these modifications are suggestive of the strong 
tendency among those who have attempted to benefit the 
blind to retain for them the form of letter to which the seeing 
are accustomed, while the constant change of form indicates a 
fact with which most blind persons are familiar, from personal 
experience, viz: that none of these modifications are satisfac- 
tory as to the primary condition of being easily felt. A better 
form than any which has obtained currency was suggested 
20 years ago, by Mr. Welch, a blind man, who has been the 
pioneer of education amongst the blind of London, and this is 
almost identical with one independently worked out by Mr. 
Littledale, of Cheltenham. 



10 

The second great class is made up of alphabets, deviating 
more or less widely from the Eoman letter, and consists of a 
stenographic shorthand invented by Mr. Lucas, a phonetic 
shorthand due to Mr. Frere, and a full-written system intro- 
duced by Mr. Moon, in which the Eoman letter is retained in 
a more or less modified form whenever he considered this could 
be done compatibly with easy recognition, the simple line signs 
employed by Mr. Frere being used to replace the more com- 
plicated of the Eoman letters. 

***■#-#'#'*'# 

A favourite argument with the advocates of the Eoman let- 
ter is, that by its use a blind man can be assisted in his reading 
by those around him who are possessed of sight. This, no 
doubt, would be valid if no simpler character for the blind had 
been invented, but when we have to choose between a char- 
acter in the reading of which the blind can be assisted by the 
seeing, and one which is so simple that no assistance is required, 
there can hardly be a doubt as to which ought to be used. 
Another argument in favour of a Eoman character is, that if 
the blind use a different character from the seeing, their isola- 
tion is thereby increased. It is difficult to understand how 
this dreaded isolation can be produced by using a character 
thoroughly well suited to the touch, easily learned, and read 
with rapidity and comfort, instead of one which possesses none 
of these advantages. Another plea for the use of the Eoman 
letter is, that by its means the blind can write in a character 
understood by everybody. This writing is, as we shall pres- 
ently see, a very imperfect process; but this argument is 
undoubtedly of some weight. These remarks apply simply to 
the existing systems in which the Eoman letter is employed. 
It is probable that a much more legible alphabet might be con- 
structed, but after our 96 years of experience and experiments 
with the Eoman letter, another failure may well be feared. 
The small angularised Eoman letter of Dr. Howe, of Boston, 
which is used in most of the United States Asylums, is proba- 
bly as good a form as any, and, if printed in a larger size, 
would not be difficult to feel; in its present size, however, it 
is far too small, and has signally failed in America. We have 
valuable statistics on this subject. The American asylums are 
all State institutions, and have to furnish accounts to their 
respective State legislatures of the work done by them. Out 
of 664 pupils in seven asylums, where the Eoman character of 
Dr. Howe is used, one-third learn to read fluently; one-third 
by a process, of spelling, and one-third fail altogether. In the 
Missouri Institution, where the French dotted character is 
used, two-thirds learn to read fluently ; one-third by spelling, 
while none fail; and it must be borne in mind that those who 



11 

learn to read by this system, also acquire an admirable method 
of writing. Moon's system retains those Roman letters which 
can be easily distinguished, and thus makes a transition between 
the systems in which the Roman character is ured, and those 
which employ purely arbitrary signs. For this reason, and 
from its great simplicity of construction, it is more easily 
learned than any other, and therefore is well suited to the 
great mass of the poor, who, from want of intelligence or of 
application, cannot learn one of the short-hand systems. Its 
great bulk, however, involving costliness of production and 
comparative slowness of reading, is a serious obstacle to its 
general use. 

In Frere's system the lines are read from left to right, and 
from right to left alternately, an arc of a circle taking the 
finger from the end of the upper to the beginning of the lower 
line. The plan may be illustrated by imagining the letters to 
fixed on the upper edge of a long string. Let it be supposed 
that this string is doubled backwards and forwards upon itself 
in such a way that the letters always occupy its upper edge. 
This will give a good idea of Frere's method of reversing the 
line; not only is the line reversed, but every letter in it is 
also reversed, so that the finger, when moving forwards, 
whether towards the right or towards the left, meets the 
characters in the same position, and is, in fact, never moving 
backwards, in the same manner that a person may walk to 
the end of a room, turn and walk back, yet is moving forwards 
in both directions. Moon, on the other hand, while borrowing 
the reversal of the line from Frere, retains the letters in the 
returning line in the same position as the advancing, so that 
the finger in the return line meets the characters in the oppo- 
site direction from that in the advancing line ; and to those 
accustomed to Frere's simpler method of reversal an unpleasant 
feeling is produced, exactly comparable to walking backwards. 
The following example of both modes of reversal, in which 
Roman capitals are used, will make this clear : 

Frere's MetJiod. 

I WILL MAKE DARKNESS^ 
M3HT HRCRaa TH0S.K 

Moon's Method. 

I WILL MAKE DARKNESS\ 
.MEHT EROFEB THGIL' 



12 

No doubt habit will accustom a reader to either plan, and 
probably there is not much difference in the difficulty of 
either, but, as we shall see bye-and-bye, it is absolutely neces- 
sary for writing that the pupil should thoroughly understand 
that, whichever way he goes, he is moving forwards ; it is, 
therefore, wise to accustom him in reading to a process which 
he will have to follow in writing. Opinions differ widely 
among the blind, whether it is best to read forwards in one 
direction and backwards in the other, or forward in both ; 
there seems, however, among those who have had experience 
of the return line, -that there can be no doubt of its great value, 
as by its use no time is lost by the reading-finger having to 
return from the end of the upper to the beginning of the lower 
line ; the left hand also need not be engaged in keeping the 
place, by marking the beginning of the lower line, and this 
setting free of the left hand enables it to follow the right in 
reading, to take its place or to rest. 

* * * :}< ;|c * * =& 

In all the systems which we have hitherto considered, the 
letters, whether Eoman or arbitrary, are formed by raised 
lines. The method employed for writing them is as follows : 
Small cubes of wood are used with projecting pin points, so 
placed as to assume the form of each letter. The paper to be 
written on being laid on a soft surface, the pin point letters are 
pressed into it ; each point carries some of the paper before it, 
forming a little prominence on the reverse side, and as the pin 
points are very close together, the series of little prominen- 
ces formed by them feel to the fingers like serrated lines. 
This plan ought rather to be called printing than writing ; it 
requires great practice, and is at the best very slow and im- 
perfect; yet it has its uses, as by employing Eoman capitals 
the blind can correspond with the seeing. The letters, how- 
ever, are not sufficiently distinct, and I must confess that when 
receiving communications from blind correspondents written 
in this manner, or with pencil, I always think that it would 
have been more satisfactory, both to writer and reader, if the 
letter had been written from dictation. Printing from the 
Eoman letter (not embossed) can be effected by the blind with 
considerable rapidity by means of Hughes's typography, or 
Foucault's writing machine, but the blind writer cannot read 
what he has written, and the apparatus is so costly, that it is 
not procurable by the poor. Yarious plans exist to enable the 
blind to keep their lines when writing with a pencil, or with a 
stile on carbonised paper, but such writing can only be used 
for correspondence with the seeing, and cannot, of course, be 
read by touch. 

We now come to the third class of systems, viz : those in 



13 

which the letters are formed by a combination of dots. These 
are : 

1. The Braille system, universal in France both for writing 
and printing, and very much used for both purposes in Switzer- 
land, and employed as the written character in almost all coun- 
tries, with the exception of the United Kingdom. 

2. The Carton type, which was introduced into Belgium by 
the Abbe Carton, who sought to retain, as far as possible, the 
form of the Roman letter. This has not been very effectually 
done, and has only been attempted in about half the letters of 
the alphabet. This endeavour to reconcile a dotted written 
system with the Roman letter is mainly interesting, as showing 
how tenaciously a clever man clung to the Roman letter, even 
while abandoning it. 

3. Hughes's system consists of large and small dots, and 
lines placed in different positions. It never obtained much 
currency, and seems never to have attracted the attention 
which its ingenuity merited. 

4. A modification of the French method has been lately 
proposed in New York, and seems to have much to recommend 
it. To begin with the French method. This was invented in 
1834, by M. Braille, a blind pupil of the Institut des Jeunes 
Aveugles. It spread with great rapidity, and has, as we have 
before seen, become almost the universal written language of 
the blind. Its signs are purely arbitrary, and consists of 
varying combinations of six dots placed in an oblong, of which 
the vertical side contains three, and the horizontal two dots. 
For writing, a frame is used consisting of a grooved metal bed, 
containing 10 grooves to the inch ; over this is fitted a brass 
guide, punched with oblong holes, whose vertical diameter is 
three-tenths of an inch, while the horizontal diameter is two- 
tenths This perforated guide is fixed into a light wooden frame, 
like the frame of a slate, which is attached to the grooved metal 
bed by hinges. The paper is introduced between the frame 
and the grooved bed. The instrument for writing is a blunt 
awl, which carries a little cap of paper before it into the grooves 
of the bed, thereby producing a series of little pits on the ends 
next the writer. When 1aken out and turned over, little 
prominences are felt, corresponding to the pits on the other 
side. The reading is performed from left to right, consequently 
the writing is from right to left ; but this reversal presents 
no practical difficulty as soon as the pupil has caught the idea 
that, in reading and writing alike, he has to go forwards. The 
brass guide has a double row of openings, Avhich enables the 
writer to write two lines; when these are written, he shifts 
his guide downwards until two little pins, which project from 
the under surface at its ends, drop into corresponding holes of 



14 

the frame, when the writer writes two more lines, and this 
operation is repeated until he arrives at the bottom of the 
page. 

The first ten letters, from "a" to "j," are formed in the upper 
and middle grooves ; the next ten, from u k" to "t," are formed 
by adding one lower dot behind to each letter of the first 
series; the third row, from "u" to "ii," is formed from the 
first by adding two lower dots to each letter; the fourth row, 
from "a" to "w" similarly, by adding one lower front dot. 

The first ten letters, when preceded by the prefix for num- 
bers, stand for the nine numbers and the cypher; the same 
signs, written in the lower and middle grooves, instead of the 
upper and middle, serve for punctuation. The seven last let- 
ters of each series stand for the seven musical notes, the first 
series representing quavers; the second, minims; the third, 
semibreves ; the fourth, crotchets. Bests, accidentals, and 
every other sign used in music can be readily and clearly 
expressed, without having recourse to- the staff of five lines 
which forms the basis of ordinary musical notation, and 
which, though it has been reproduced for the blind, can only 
be considered as serving to give them an idea of the method 
employed by the seeing, and cannot, of course, be written. 
By means of this dotted sj^stem, a blind man is able to keep 
memoranda, accounts, write his own music, emboss his own 
books from dictation, and carry on correspondence, which last, 
however, seems to me to be the least valuable part of the inven- 
tion, since the embossing is liable to be effaced by transmission 
through the post; it is, however, a privilege highly valued by 
the blind. 

The extreme value of teaching music thoroughly to the 
blind does not lie only in the circumstance of the great pleasure 
derivable from it, but still more in the fact, too much neglected 
in England, that the profession of music, and especially that 
of tuning, is almost the only means by which a blind man can 
thoroughly maintain himself — at least this is found so in 
Paris. No accurate statistics on this subject have been pub- 
lished, but I believe I am not far from the truth when I assert 
that, out of 150 blind boys in the Paris Institution, 60 per 
cent, become sufficiently good musicians to earn their living, 
and rather more than 30 per cent, become first-rate tuners and 
organists, by means of which occupations, and especially by 
the former, they are enabled to live most comfortably, while 
following a pursuit congenial to their tastes. The unfortunate 
remainder, who have no musical tastes, have to live partly by 
handicraft and partly by alms, as is the case with the great 
majority of the blind in this country. It is, indeed, sad to see 
many blind musicians in London, who are perfectly capable of 



15 

maintaining themselves by tuning, absolutely starving from 
want of employment; and this arises partly from the imper- 
fect education resulting from the want of a written musical 
character, and partly from the prejudice which still unfor- 
tunately exists against the blind among our piano-forte makers. 
This has, in a great measure disappeared in Paris, where there 
are, indeed, several blind manufacturers employing seeing 
workmen. 

But this French system, though extremely useful, is not 
perfect. The letter is too small for ready recognition by the 
unskilful or hard-handed, and if this is sought to be remedied 
by increasing the size, the reading finger does not cover the 
whole of the letter, and has to proceed up and down, feeling 
out each letter, instead of following the even gliding motion 
essential to good reading. The modification proposed in 
New York, remedies this defect, though this does not appear 
to have been the intention of its promoters. It proceeds 
proceeds on the principle that the letters occurring most fre- 
quently in the English language should be represented by the 
fewest number of dots, and that the letters should be so spaced 
that a letter composed of one dot should not, as is the case in 
the French system, occupy the same room as one with six 
dots. For this purpose, the oblong, consisting of six dots, 
composing the root-form of the letter, is placed horizontally 
instead of vertically; the greatest vertical depth of any letter 
is two dots instead of three. From these two changes results 
a saving of about one-third in space ; this involves a saving 
of about one-third in the price of printed books ; writing is 
rendered more rapid ; and, as the size can now be increased, 
owing to the diminution of the vertical length of the letter, it 
can be made sufficient for the dullest touch. Ten word and 
part-word signs have been introduced, which effect a further 
saving of nearly one-third, while they do not interfere in the 
least degree with correct spelling. These advantages make it 
well worth while to consider whether this modification of the 
Braille system ought not to be adopted as the written system 
of all English-speaking blind, but before such a step is recom- 
mended, the question should be carefully considered in all its 
bearings on musical notation as well as on ordinary writing; 
and this leads me to notice the movement which has lately 
taken place in England, to determine the best form of raised 
alphabet, and which is the more hopeful as it has originated 
among the blind themselves, who know from personal ex- 
perience what are the requisites of a raised alphabet. A 
Society has been formed, under the name of the " British and 
Foreign Blind Association," for improving the embossed lit- 
erature and promoting the employment of the blind. ^Ye are 



16 

engaged this evening only with the first of these points, whieh 
has to be investigated by the executive council, who are all 
totally blind, with the exception of myself. It is required of 
each member of the council that his defect of sight shall be 
such as to oblige him to use the finger for the purpose of read- 
ing. He must be able to read at least three systems, and must 
not be pecuniarily interested in any. We have now been at 
work in concert for about eighteen months. We have carefully 
investigated with our own fingers each system that has obtained 
a permanent footing, either here or in foreign countries, and 
we have had before us the most intelligent of the blind of 
London, and have carefully taken down what they have had 
to say about the advantages and disadvantages of the systems 
with which they were acquainted. We are also in corres- 
pondence with many of the best informed, both in Europe and 
America, and we hope that, by continuing this method of in- 
vestigation, we shall be able to propose something worthy of 
general adoption. It is high time that some such step should 
be taken. The Bible, or the greater part of it, is printed in 
English in five different systems, while portions of it exist in 
several others. This want of concert occasions great unneces- 
sary expense in production, at the same time that the large 
circulation which would tend to reduce the price of embossed 
books in the same way that it tends to cheapen ordinary 
printed matter, is effectually prevented by different institutions 
teaching and printing in different characters, so that the blind 
who have been educated at one institution cannot read the 
books printed at another, and to produce a literature available 
for all, the same books have to be printed in five or six differ- 
ent systems ; and, as if the existing confusion were not already 
sufficiently great, a society has lately been started at Worcester, 
with the object of printing the Bible and other books in a 
sixth system. While, notwithstanding all this well-intentioned 
misdirected energy, the blind of England have as yet no plan 
of writing worthy of the name, and are in this respect far 
behind France and other civilised countries. It so happens, 
however, that this utter want of concert, which has hitherto 
prevailed in this country, gives us an unusual abundance of 
material for deciding the points under consideration. As each 
system is defective in some particular, the most intelligent of 
the blind learn several, and thus we have something like an 
enlightened public opinion among our blind, which probably 
does not exist in any other country. It is very remarkable 
how in this,. as in most subjects, those who know least are 
the most decided and uncompromising in their advocacy of the 
method with which they happen to have come in contact, while 
among the blind themselves, who know different systems, there 



17 

is, if not agreement, at least an approach to it, and great diffi- 
dence in expressing a decided opinion. We have hitherto been 
almost exclusively occupied with the methods of reading and 
writing, but the same want of harmony exists in the methods 
used for imparting a knowledge of arithmetic, geography, &c. 
There are several forms of calculating boards used in different 
institutions in England, some of which are very superior to 
others, but all seem to me far better than that used in Paris. 
Here, again, we see the necessity of a central society to 
examine into the various inventions, and to bring into general 
notice that method which appears upon the whole to be the 
best. The same observations apply to the method of emboss- 
ing maps and geometrical problems, which appear to be sus- 
ceptible of very great improvement. Not the least advantage 
of an organization like the British and Foreign Blind Asso- 
ciation is, thata central source of information is thus established, 
to which all supposed new inventions for the use of the blind 
can be referred. If, as often happens, the invention is one 
which is already well known, and has been superseded by 
something better, much time and trouble may be saved by its 
being possible to ascertain this at once, while anything which 
is really new, and which promises well, may be worked at 
with vigour by a number of skilled men acting together. 
Whether the present association is destined to produce har- 
monious action among those interested in the blind throughout 
the civilised world, time alone will show. W^e have already 
met with an amount of success which, when we began our 
labours, we were told it would be Utopian to expect ; and I 
believe that, with sufficient time and cordial co-operation 
among the blind themselves, our most sanguine hopes will be 
realised ; in the meantime, the work upon which we are en- 
gaged is one which brings its own reward, for I cannot conceive 
any occupation so congenial to a blind man of education and 
leisure as the attempt to advance the education, and improve 
the condition of his fellow- sufferers, for which work the very 
calamity which has unfitted him for most other occupations, 
has made him peculiarly well-suited. 



Mr. Colmer asked permission to make one or two remarks. 
Although he was not unmindful of what the chairman had just 
said respecting the time, and that no discussion could be per- 
mitted, yet the gravity and importance of the subject were 
such, that he could not refrain from saying — as a blind man 
himself, having been so for thirteen or fourteen years past, and 
as having had to do, probably, more with blind people than 
any other person in London — that the subject was one of 



18 

very much more importance than the general public really 
understood it to be. The fact was, that the present systems 
were very conflicting, and as there had recently been an 
attempt made to obtain money from the public for the purpose 
of printing a system for the blind, which the blind at large 
could not possibly avail themselves of, if that attempt were 
successful the effect would be that the £10,000 asked for would 
nearly all be squandered. The blind population belonged 
mostly to the artisan and labouring classes, who went blind 
when advanced in life, and they had not a touch sufficiently 
delicate to enable them to read some of the systems proposed. 
The Eoman character, of all other characters, was the worst, 
and was of no use for general reading. It was an easy matter 
to produce books, but quite another matter to enable the poor 
persons for whom they were intended to read them. His ex- 
perience amongst the blind had been very extensive, and he 
therefore knew their wants and their desires. There were 
3,000 of them in London, and though he did not mean to say 
that he represented the whole of them, yet he knew some 700 
or 800. He had made extensive inquiries among them, and 
knew others who had done the same, and as the result, he 
could state the general opinion of the London blind was that 
the Eoman character was totally useless. What might be 
said about modifications of it was another matter; but, as it 
was, it would be entirely a failure, and it would be indeed a 
thousand pities if any large sums of money were expended upon 
such a work. He would add that, the council which had been 
referred to had the sympathies of the blind. It was a very 
easy thing, and nothing more natural than for sighted persons 
to say that, if they were to become blind, they would like to 
feel the letters they had been accustomed to see, but the ex- 
perience of the blind was entirely opposed to that, and, in fact, 
it was one thing to feel ; but a very different thing to see, 





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